Have you seen the film Monsterboards?
It was in the short selections at this year's New York Surf Film Festival. Director Matthew McGregor-Mento filmed Eef - "a surfer in Holland who makes and rides wooden surfboards with painted monsters on them in the freezing and junky surf of his home".
The film about Eef made me smile so much, I thought it would be fun to ask him a few questions.
Eef, do you remember some of the first monsters you ever drew?
The first monsters I did were the shadow monsters when I lived in Amsterdam. I lived in a trailer for awhile and I painted them on the outside on both sides next to my door. Pretty dark stuff now that I think about it. I did some of them with spray paint in hallways and on the streets as well. So the monsters and me go way back.
When my wife and I started a little painting/art workspace we combined my monsters with her happy and colourful style which resulted in the monsters and angel shrine which is in our little girl's bedroom at the moment. She opens the doors of it when she goes to bed. I made lots of little guardian-monster paintings as well - the idea is that you can hang 'em in your house and they will keep the really scary monsters out.
As a lover of monsters, how does your family celebrate Halloween (is it celebrated in Holland)?
Halloween is not as big here as it in the U.S. - we don't really celebrate it but we have quite a lot of monsters around the house year round.
Did you get to surf today? What monster board did you choose?
I didn't get to surf today! It's more of a weekend thing for me at the moment. I work in Amsterdam which takes some time to get to and back and I come back it's time for dinner, and after that the girls are going to bed (they are 4 and 2 years old). So if it's slightly looking possible I go to the beach early on Saturday or Sunday morning so I'll be back in time to go do something with Belinda and the kids. I have mostly bodysurfed the last year or so. I try to go year round.
A new trick I have to be less afraid of sharks is to imagine them with rubber teeth. What do you think of that?
It's a fantastic idea!!! I heard that Cyrus is singing a song about it in his new film. I did see the movie but missed that completely so thanks a lot for reminding me. I got to meet Cyrus at the NYSFF, he is such a nice guy.
I don't know why I'm so afraid of sharks, it's quite embarrassing and I hope the rubber teeth thing helps.
That's exactly where I got the idea about the rubber teeth - from Cyrus' movie, Stoked and Broke. How did the making of the movie Monsterboards come about?
I got in touch with Matt McGregor-Mento via email when I found some pictures online of the paipo boards he made. I was making them too, so we emailed and kept in touch. Matt is the nicest guy you'll ever meet and is SO stoked. And he likes strange boards just like me.
One day he emailed that he wanted to make a short movie about me, my art and the little waves here in Holland and that he wanted to submit it to the NYSFF. So he sent a camera over and I shot some footage. Matt is working as a creative director so he got together a team of great guys that did the editing, the animation and all that. I was blown away by how great it looked.
Still a little weird that it was about me though, I'm not a very skilled surfer you know. Everything over 3 feet is HUGE and scary in my world.
I got to meet Matt in real life when we went over to New York for the film festival. We got to stay with him and his wife and they were so much like us! Too bad they live so far away...
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Thank you Eef! You really made my day. For more on what Eef is up to and the monsters he draws, check out Monstercult.
